testify

I have had a great day today. I spent my last $3 and am officially broke. I love my job because they play great music. I got to work and the first customers I served were deaf. You see the Texas School for the Deaf is right up the street. But we have to converse with customers to know what they want on their burritos. So it was kinda awkward. At first. Then it was nice. It was clear they knew how to read lips and were well educated. So many different people here in Austin. I love it. Yes, Armaedes, I live in Austin. Were you stoned when you were reading my blog? That's all I've been talking about. Heheh. Anyway so I saw this girl on Dr. Phil who was bulimic because she wanted to look like Mary-Kate Olsen. Like she was obsessed with her. This was a pretty girl. It was pathetic. And even more so when I found out this girl has a kid that is old enough to talk. That made me feel old. Girls with talking babies young enough to be obsessed with Mary-Kate Olsen? Yikes. Funny story about Dr. Phil...would you have guessed that Kid Rock is his favorite musician?? Me neither. But I saw the 100th episode of his show where they had Kid Rock come out and surprise him by playing on the show. Dr. Phil lost his composure. He was so excited I thought he would pass out. And Kid Rock is all on stage screaming "I can smell a pig from a mile away!" And Dr. Phil is about to faint in ecstacy. "I'm gonna paint his town red, and paint his wife white!" All the housewives in the audience are smiling and clapping along. It was a hilarious, priceless moment. In the end, all I could do was shake my head--and laugh my ass off!

So anyway I promised a story about a moment that changed my life. Of course this is a retrospective. So back in Jr. High, I lived in a small town in East Texas. We listened to country music and whatever pop music they played on the radio. My cassette collection consisted of like, George Strait, The Judds, Clay Walker, Mariah Carey, Weezer, Green Day, Salt n Peppa, and Aerosmith. Yeah. But I had heard of Nirvana. There were kids at school always wearing his shirts. I think Kurt had just killed himself. I had only heard 2 songs, Smells Like Teen Spirit and The Man Who Sold the World. I adored these songs. So I was in the mall and I only had like $10 but I wanted an album. And I fucking picked up Unplugged in New York and carried it around the store. I just wasn't sure because I'd never really listened to Nirvana and because I only had ten bucks and I didn't want to waste it, you see. So I wanted to make sure there wasn't something better. Then I saw it. The new Mariah Carey album. I stood there and compared the two. Of course being a 12 year old girl Mariah's cover art appealed to me more than Nirvana's. For some reason that is a huge part of it for me. Anyway, I put back the Nirvana with much reserve and bought Mariah Carey because I already knew I liked her. Who the fuck knows if I even listened to it? I don't even remember what album it was. I didn't discover Nirvana for four more years. And Unplugged is my favorite Nirvana album. It is a funny, sad story, but looking back, I see how even a trivial decision affected my life. The Mariah Carey-stage me vs. the Nirvana-stage me were very different people. Nirvana really liberated me. What would that have done to me at 12? Maybe it was the universe guiding me. I don't think I would have been ready for Nirvana when I was that age. I was pretty sheltered. And I guess I subconsciously chose to stay that way. It's funny how things work out. Even a fleeting moment in your life can be something that totally directs it. I am an exploitative dork.

You heard me.

Jam for the Day: Going the Distance by Cake